W-League History

Victory look to stem goal leak

Melbourne Victory defender Rody Vargas insists that some tighter marking and greater desperation from the back four is the key to his team not conceding goals from set pieces.

Melbourne Victory defender Rody Vargas insists that some tighter marking and greater desperation from the back four is the key to his team not conceding goals from set pieces.

So far in the 2010/11 Hyundai A-League season Victory have picked up five points from as many games courtesy of a win over Gold Coast in Round 4 and draws with Sydney FC (Round 1) and North Queensland (Round 3).

But perhaps most worrying for coach Ernie Merrick and his defence in the lead-up to Sunday's AAMI Park clash with the unbeaten Roar is the fact that not only have they conceded nine goals in those five starts, several of them have come from set pieces.

"Yeah definitely (we need a clean sheet)," Vargas said.

"I think we've conceded the most amount of goals in the league this year and for the back four it's been pretty frustrating."

"There's been occasions where (goalkeeper) 'Petka' (Michael Petkovic) has had not much to do at all and we're still conceding goals ... and it's something that we've got to fix and we've got to fix quick because I think teams are starting to take a look at that and trying to hit us on the set pieces and corners."

Vargas has little doubt though that he and the likes of fellow defenders Kevin Muscat and Adrian Leijer need to be more desperate to correct the issue and that if they do Victory will be much tougher to beat.

"I think a lot of times it comes down to an individual doing a job," he added.

"It's a mental thing for me, it's about having a job and marking someone and not letting him get the ball before you."

"We're just slackening off in that area and it's been pretty costly."

"We're all adults here and we've got to put our hands up and take some responsibility."

"It's still early days, we're not panicking but we want to fix those things so we can start getting some points on the board."

"Teams aren't breaking us down, they're scoring from set pieces so if we can fix that then they're going to have a lot of trouble scoring."

Vargas dismissed suggestions that the change of keepers in the off-season following Mitch Langerak's move to Germany may have had an impact while he is also looking forward to facing off against former team-mate Michael Theoklitos this weekend.

"Yeah I haven't connected the Foxtel yet so I haven't been watching many games but from all accounts he's had a good year and we all know he's a quality keeper and he had a rough time in Europe but it'd be good to hopefully get a few past him this week," Vargas said.